Are all films <5 years problematic in some way

[anon666]

I guess it might be a sign of rapid progress, but recently I've watched:

Pretty Woman
Dirty Dancing
Bend it like Beckham

All of which have a girl/woman falling for an authority figure. It really looks creepy to a modern eye. Or does it? Am I being too Gen Z about the whole thing?

100% agree with you on this!

What’s Twelve Years a Slave got to do with it? The movie came out in 2013, ten years ago, so it’s not an example of Gen Z accepting unsanitised films if that’s what you were trying to use it as? Gen Z-ers will have been about 8 years old when that film came out.

I'm not sure dirty dancing glamourises prostitution, i didn't watch and think, ooh you know what I'll start giving business men blow jobs for money , in the same way I've never gone walking through the woods talking to wolves.

Maybe this is why fantasy genre (house of dragons etc) is appealing because if the characters do morally questionable things it's ok because that's in pumpkin land, not here?

I couldn't disagree more, even I didn't buy into it at 14/15 as being remotely like real life. Its fiction and no one is telling women to suck it up. Anyone with any sort of intelligence understands the context surely. Even my teen boys do as we have these conversations. The current age 18-25 yo have no resilience. It's getting ridiculous. Surely it's a way to open up communication and discuss healthy relationships, body image etc etc. No need to ban stuff or only make fully politically/woke films forever more.

Agree, we are in a cultural desert. Music,art,tv and film are all utter trash. The most mediocre dross is raised up as wonderful. Truth is culture has been on a downward spiral for decades.

Pretty Woman transfering to the stage to squeeze even more pennies out of it as a concept proves that many people really don't see it as problematic at all.

@turtool

This is why we should protect children as long as possible. Keep them away from knowing how shitty life is. They Should believe in Santa fairies and Unicorn magic as long as possible

Now I completely disagree. I'd rather they weren't conned/fooled into thinking they're princesses, believing in unicorns and santa, etc in the first place. Fair enough I suppose, when they're very young, but by dragging such fantasy out for years, you're just setting them up for major disappointment when their bubble bursts. I know I'm probably going to get flamed for this, but personally, I think all that nonsense needs to have stopped by the time they go to school, if not before. I'd far rather see any daughter/grandchild of mine going out in jeans, getting dirty, playing in the mud, basically being a "tom boy" rather than dressing up in a mermaid or Elsa being led up the garden path thinking they're going to swoon at the sight of a prince and once they're in that mindset ending up swooning at the first lowlife drop out who shows an interest in her! You can't blame the media/TV/films for giving young girls the wrong idea when parents obsess about dressing their girls up, telling them how beautiful they are, constantly doing their hair, etc - it's almost grooming them that they have to be beautiful for the boys!

Agree, we are in a cultural desert. Music,art,tv and film are all utter trash. The most mediocre dross is raised up as wonderful. Truth is culture has been on a downward spiral for decades.

I'm pretty sure every single generation of parents says this about what's currently popular with their children.

I saw the Fred Astaire version of Daddy Long Legs back in the mid-90s and found it creepy even then.

And they are right. To be honest culture reached a peak in the regency period. The music, arts and architecture have all took a nosedive since.

saw the Fred Astaire version of Daddy Long Legs back in the mid-90s and found it creepy even then.

So weird, that story. The book was in our school library. Even at 11 I was "WTF?"

I can't wait to see what artistic gems Gen Z is going to come up with.....

Sam and Sam are non binary and use they/them pronouns. They are exactly the same age. They work in ethically sourced yoghurt and vegan socks. They never have sex unless both parties have agreed to it in writing. They spend their days staring at the wall worrying about climate change and living their truth.
ChatGPT is their only friend.
The End.

😂😂😂

Someone should totally make this film.

And they are right. To be honest culture reached a peak in the regency period. The music, arts and architecture have all took a nosedive since.

The range of Jacobean drama on DVD is so very limited though. Treat yourself to some Dickens, at least.

Well I'm Generation X (just about - almost-boomer!), and I've always hated Pretty Woman and Dirty Dancing. It's all very well going on about how it's only fiction, but it is all part of societal conditioning, just like little girls are taught that if you love the Beast hard eough, he'll turn into a Prince.

Ironically Gen Z are a generation that are far more likely to approve of pornography and Only Fans style prostitution than any other. Yet Pretty Woman gets a side eye.

This. Overthinking is the curse of the modern age.

I find the grooming/ conditioning that is happening now far more scary than a bit of light entertainment in the form of a film back in the 80's or early 90's.

I was also like op. My parents didn’t talk to me so I was hopelessly naive and unprepared for teen romances. I thought my boyfriend would be mine forever and rescue me from my life, thus gave myself so completely. I didn’t have many books but devoured the ones I was given. Catherine Cookson and handed down mills and boon. I should have been spending my days at the library broadening my horizons but didn’t even know I was allowed to go on my own. No wonder I believed in such fairy tales.

Nope, they’re fine. I think it’s the more recent films that are the problem.

Most of them have some wokery bullshit in there and some of the more extreme ones have changed characters and movies entirely (like The Little Mermaid and Mulan for example).

Anything made in the last 5-10 years has to be carefully vetted before I let my children see it as the messages they’re sending out are toxic.

I'm in my 40's and these films make me cringe now. But they are of the time and if we don't have access to them we can't see how things have changed. I do find that we are forcing modern opinions into films and TV a bit too quickly though. We have people who tick certain boxes, but the character is not developed and I think that is worse because it is obvious they are only in the programmes for that reason. It's almost that our old movies and TV had such an entrenched narrative that they don't know how to adapt their stories to 'gen z' views.

My mum has always commented about the old movies from the 50's where the man would slap the angry woman (Calamity Jane springs to mind, used to love that film as a kid, but it is pure sexism), so it's not just 20 year olds who have noticed, my mum is 70! But yes, pretty woman is pretty dodgy. I always thought Labrinth had a bit of an odd storyline, but loved the film as a kid. Never liked SATC that much as I think it made women look very superficial and unlikable too. I think it had the opposite effect to what was intended.

I think that fiction of any genre, including fantasy, stands or falls on the truth of its characters. Excellent fiction should depict people as they are, not as we might wish them to be. Give us real, complex characters with behaviours and motivations that strike true, not ciphers mouthing platitudes and right think.

Most classic films from about 2012 or earlier understood this. That, and their understanding of the purpose and mechanisms of storytelling, is why they are still beloved.

Most people know when they're being preached at, and quite rightly don't like it.

I'd agree, Bend it like Beckham was an excellent movie

I hate the word "problematic". It is a stupid woke word the kids use to suck the joy out of anything

Recently watched bend it like Beckham, they really didnt need that dodgy creepy coach character who the girl's families should have been quite rightly suspicious of. The film would have been far better if he had just been an innocent supportive coach.